Mia's 21st Birthday
by Yume no Ueda
Summary: It's Mia's 21st birthday, and the Ronins are celebrating!


Mia's 21st Birthday

**A/N: A b-day fic dedicated to my sis. Happy 21st! **

**Disclaimer: I sadly don't own them...if I did, Sage would walk around shirtless.**

Mia smashed the snooze button on her alarm clock, groaning. Five o'clock was an ungodly hour, and she wasn't sure why she _ever_ woke up at that time. And then she remembered something: It was her twenty-first birthday. And she'd invited the guys.

So that would explain her subconscious telling her that she needed to wake up. The house needed Ronin-proofing, and she wasn't quite sure there was enough time in the world to do that.

The woman got out of bed and shut off her now-beeping alarm clock, glad that it wasn't a bomb. _'I guess I'll start with the kitchen…God only knows how much havoc they could wreak in _there_…'_ she thought as she bounded down the stairs and into said room.

Bare feet meeting with cold linoleum could do wonders to wake a girl up. Even more so than coffee, some days. But Mia decided that the caffeinated beverage would be a good thing to have right now, seeing as the task that lay ahead of her was a very strenuous one.

At noon, the house lay in a mess of duct-tape, packing peanuts, and bubble-wrap. It had taken Mia seven hours to completely bind every single fragile piece of furniture or otherwise in the mansion, but she had done it.

And just in the nick of time, too.

Rowen hammered his fist on the doorbell, yelling for his female friend to open up and leaning on the door with impatience. When said friend _did_ open up, the blue-haired adult's rump met a _very_ hard hardwood floor. "Ow…Hey, is this how you treat all your guests?" he asked cheekily as he picked up and dusted off his person. There was a grin on his face as he added, "Happy birthday. How old again?"

"Twenty-one," Mia reminded curtly, picking up the grocery sack he'd dropped. Examination of the contents proved that there was something containing alcohol in it – several somethings, in fact.

"Good. Didn't want to force ya to drink underage." Rowen took the bag and headed into the kitchen, setting it down on the counter and immediately diving into the inner bowels of it. "C'mon, let's have a drink!"

"I really think we should wait until the others get here," replied the woman, turning as she heard another familiar voice behind her.

"Hey Mia, happy birthday," greeted a tall violet-eyed blonde, handing over a nicely-wrapped gift.

"Thank you, Sage. Rowen's in the kitchen if you want to join him." The Ronin nodded and headed off in that direction while Mia placed the gift on the dining room table.

Ryo, Cye, and Kento all arrived after their first two companions, bearing greetings of the same and more gifts. One of the highlights of Mia's day was seeing that Ryo still had White Blaze. She'd often worried how the big cat made out, even though his owner seemed to have found a nice apartment complex that allowed 'large dogs'.

The six of them sat down to dinner a few hours later, after living in the past via pictures of their adventures while fighting off Talpa. The meal was actually quite lovely, a nice spread that garnered the birthday girl many complements. She blushed and accepted them quite graciously.

The party then moved to the living room, where Ryo broke out a deck of cards. They all converged around the coffee table. "The name of the game, boys – and girl – is 'Take a Shot Every Time Kento Folds'," announced the black-haired man, shuffling the deck and dealing five cards to every player.

"I don't fold a lot!" protested his orange-clad friend, accepting the hand he was dealt and shuffling through it.

"Do too," protested Rowen.

"Do not," came the reply.

This went on for a few moments until Mia put a stop to it. "Can you not just be quiet so we can play the game?" she quipped, looking through her hand.

"Birthday girl gets to go first," Cye decided. The honored person nodded and shuffled through the cards in her hand again, before deciding to stay in the game. Rowen and Ryo also said the same, while Sage folded. The bearer of the Torrent armor kept his cards, and all eyes turned to Kento.

"I…fold," he announced, defeated. Everyone's hand flew to their shot glass and brought the vessel up to their lips, tipped it, and allowed themselves to drain the liquid contents before pouring more.

Play went on for quite a few hours, with many folds from Kento and many shots drunk. By the time they decided to call it quits, Mia was glad she didn't have to drive home. Of course, she wasn't the only one drunk…

Cye grabbed a fishbowl nearby and attempted to grab the fish inside of it. When that failed, he decided he'd like to jump into the container and swim with the fish. Of course, he couldn't do that without knowing the condition of the water. "Hello, mister fishy! How's the wet stuff feel today?"

In return, the fish – whom Mia had lovingly named Bart – just stared.

Cye stared back. It was a full-on staring contest, and there was no use trying to separate the inebriated male from his jar of water. After a few moments, though, Bart swam to the other side of the bowl, leaving the warrior quite sad. "What's the matter, fishy? Afraid you were going to lose?"

"If that fish could talk, it would probably have said, 'Would you like your butt with or without a side of humiliation?'" drawled a very drunk Ryo from the armchair, unable to stand. "Everybody knows fish…are the best…at…staring…contests…" The last thing to be heard from his mouth was snoring, very loud snoring.

Cye shook the bowl and was delighted as a little water splashed out. Mia heard his childlike giggle and came running, snatching poor Bart away from his current tormentor. "Leave Bart alone, he's had a hard day…" she told him, referring to the looks White Blaze had been throwing said fish.

"Aww, c'mon Mia! I was just getting t' know the li'l guy!"

"No. Now either go home or go to your old room!"

"Alright, mother. But what about Ryo?"

"He'll just have to stay there." Mia replaced Bart on the table and headed upstairs.

"Aww, but that's no fair!" Cye whined, getting up off the floor and exiting the room – but not before grabbing poor Bart the fish, bowl, water, and all.


End file.
